CDNs and Caching

⏷ 1. What is caching, and why is it important in system design?

⏷ 2. Explain the difference between client-side and server-side caching.

⏷ 3. What are cache hit and cache miss, and how do they impact performance?

⏷ 4. How would you minimize cache misses in a system with rapidly changing data?

⏷ 5. If a cache key collides, how can you handle it to ensure data consistency?

⏷ 6. How would you decide the ideal expiration time (TTL) for cached objects in a news application?

⏷ 7. What is the difference between write-through and write-back caching?

⏷ 8. How does distributed caching differ from in-memory caching?

⏷ 9. Explain cache eviction strategies like LRU, LFU, and FIFO.

⏷ 10. In a distributed caching setup, how would you implement an eviction policy that works across all nodes?

⏷ 11. What are the trade-offs of write-around caching, and in which scenarios would you use it?

⏷ 12. How would you handle cache thrashing in a system experiencing frequent evictions?

⏷ 13. What is a CDN, and how does it work?

⏷ 14. How do CDNs handle geographically distributed users?

⏷ 15. What is edge caching, and why is it used in CDNs?

⏷ 16. How does a CDN handle content invalidation when files are updated frequently?

⏷ 17. If a CDN’s edge server experiences a failure, how does it affect content delivery, and how would you mitigate it?

⏷ 18. How would you design a system to decide when to bypass the CDN and fetch content directly from the origin?

⏷ 19. What is cache consistency, and why is it important?

⏷ 20. How would you implement cache invalidation in a distributed system?

⏷ 21. What are the challenges of ensuring strong consistency in caching?

⏷ 22. What trade-offs are involved in using time-based vs. event-based invalidation for cache consistency?

⏷ 23. How would you synchronize invalidation across multiple caches in a global system?

⏷ 24. How do you design a caching layer for a high-traffic web application?

⏷ 25. What are the key metrics to monitor for cache performance?

⏷ 26. How would you scale a caching layer to handle increased traffic?

⏷ 27. How would you optimize caching for personalized content, where each user’s data is unique?

⏷ 28. What techniques can you use to reduce the memory footprint of a large caching system?

⏷ 29. How would you design a caching layer for a real-time leaderboard application that updates frequently?

⏷ 30. What are the risks of caching sensitive data, and how can they be mitigated?

⏷ 31. How do you ensure secure communication between clients and cache servers?

⏷ 32. How would you prevent unauthorized access to cached content in a multi-tenant system?

⏷ 33. How do you handle caching in an application that requires end-to-end encryption for sensitive data?

⏷ 34. What are the challenges of caching authenticated API responses, and how would you overcome them?

⏷ 35. How do you monitor cache performance and usage?

⏷ 36. What tools can you use to debug issues in a distributed caching system?

⏷ 37. How would you identify the cause of increased cache misses?

⏷ 38. How do you detect and fix inconsistencies in a distributed cache system where multiple nodes have diverged?

⏷ 39. What metrics would you prioritize when troubleshooting a performance bottleneck in a CDN-backed caching layer?

⏷ 40. How would you implement caching for real-time applications like stock tickers?

⏷ 41. What are the challenges of caching dynamically generated content?

⏷ 42. What techniques would you use to cache API responses for a highly dynamic search engine?

⏷ 43. How would you balance caching and real-time data requirements in a live video streaming application?